Cooling tower



Feb. 6, 1923.

E: BURHORN. COOLING TOWER. Fl LED JULY 10 1920 2 SHEETS'SHEET 2INVENTOR. EdmiBu/ hm W ZTM EDWIN BURHORN, 0F HOBOKEN, JERSEY.

COOLING TOWER.

Application filed July 10, 1920. Serial No. 395,254.

To all whom it may concern- Be it known that I, EDWIN BURHORN, a citizenof the United States, residingat Hoboken, in the county of Hudson andState of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Cooling Towers, of

"which the following is a specification, reference being had therein tothe accompanying drawings.

This invention is a novel cooling tower, thatis to say, an apparatus ofthe class by which natural air currents are brought into contact withthe water to be cooled, the lat ter being caused to pass by gravitythroughthe-tower while subjected to the cooling influence. Moreespecially the invention relates to the class of cooling tower in which7 the descent of the warm water is interrupted and delayed by means ofone or more structures or cooling decks arranged at various points inthe height of the tower. for the purpose of preventing a too rapidpassage of the water and failure to sufficiently cool the same.

The main object of the present invention is to simplify and improve thestructure of cooling towers of the kind referred to, and to afford amode of construction of greater cheapness and convenience, yet superiorin its rigidity and durability. Other objects and advantages of theinvention will appearin the hereinafter following description or will beapparent to those skilled in the art.

To the attainment of the above referred to objects and advantages, thepresent invention consists in the novel combination, arrangements,constructions, devices and other features shown or described herein.

In the accompanying drawings showing one form or embodiment of theinvention, Figure 1 is a side elevation of a cooling tower embodying myinvention, the same partlybroken away and certain parts omitted to moreclearly show the structure.

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the form and cross-section of oneof the wooden troughs constituting a distributing element in thecoolingdecks.

Figure 3 shows in perspective a group of certain of the structural partsemployed in assembling and securing the elements of the tower.

Figure 4: is a cross-section taken on the plane a-e of. Fig.5.

Figure 5 is a cross-section taken on the plane 5-5 of Fig. 4.

F1gure6 is a plan view of. one corner of the apparatus.

Figure 7 is a perspective View of one of the separating .orspacingelements. Above a suitable supporting base 9 are the tower uprights orcorner posts 10 and these, at the top, are interconnected by the crossbraces 11'. Along each of the four sides may be a series of louvers 12,although these are mostly omitted, and are wholly omitted from the farand near sides. The bottommost louver 13 is of extended width so as todischarge any water received thereon into the collecting pan 14. -Thedrain pipe'15 conductsthe'water from the collecting pan to the condenseror other apparatus. After the water has been again heated it may bereturned to the apparatus by a pipe 16,

' which carries it toa distributing cross-pipe 17 at the t p, Supportedby brackets 18, and having apertures 19 serving as orifices to dischargethe water in the form of sprays upon or. into the distributing membersor troughs of the topmost deck 21 below.

In addition to the topmost deck 21, there may be other decks 22, 23 or24,,spaced suitably apart so that the descending water is caught anddistributed by each deck and'de-' layed in its descent so as to insuremaximum cooling by contact with natural air currents and by evaporation.

The several cooling decks may be of substantially identicalconstruction, but preferably the distributing members or troughs in eachdeck are arranged crosswise or at right angles to those of the decksabove or beneath.

Referring to'the structure of any one of the decks, it will be seen thatit is supported by underlying'channels or beams 26 constituting part ofthe framework of the tower, and having upper flanges 27 upon which thedeck members directly rest.

The wooden distributors or troughs 28 are shown as arranged horizontallyin parallel relation in each deck, and slightly spaced apart. There maybe any number of these, for example, nine in each deck. Each trough 'sprovided with overflow notches 29 so that the accumulating water in eachtroughwill pass outfrom the same at designated points in relation to thedistributing members or" the deck beneath.

For example, each notch' may discharge directly into one of the troughsofsthe deck beneath.

The parallel, spaced-apart troughs, resting on each pair of oppositechannels, require to be permanently secured in such position, and l havedevised the following very advantageous construction for this purpose. Aseparate bar or hold-down bar 30 is laid transversely on top. of eachseries of troughs. Preferably there are two hold-down bars at each deck,one near each end or" the series of parallel troughs, and, as shown,each bar may be engaged directly in the notches formed along the edgesor the respective troughs. A hold-down bolt or hook 32 is preferablythe. means of -forcibly depressing each bar 30, and-this is shown in theform of aneye bolt, the her being threaded through the eye of the bolt.i referably there is one such hold-down bolt or pin near each end ofeach bar, as shown, and the bolt may be located between two oi thetroughs, thus giving a superior holding action and enabling the boltatthe same time to serve as a separating means for maintaining the spacedrelation of the two troughs.

For pulling down and securing the bolts 32 inplace, their lower ends 33may be threaded and nuts 3e placed thereon. By this means the bolt maybe suitably engaged with a portion of the frame-beam zti For example, anapertured plate or washer 35 may be located above the nut 34 and so asto bear upwardly against the flange 37 of the channel beam and the-underside of two of the trough members 28.

The above gives an extremely simple and inexpensive structure and onewhich, on the tightening of the several nuts 34, affords a high degreeof security and permanence to' the structure.

The use of the hold-down bars 30, moreover, permits a' series ofseparators" 36 to.be provided on each rod, the same located between andso as to maintain the spaced relation of each two troughs in each deck.

" signature hereto.

aeaaera rators arev threaded upon each hold -down rod 30, which is theninserted in place, as

shown, and the washers and nuts applied at the lower ends of the bolts,and tightened up ,after theseveral elements are adjustedinto properrelation.

it will thus be seen that I have described a cooling tower embodying theprinciples and attaining the advantages of the present, invention. Sincemany matters of construction, combination, arrangement and otherfeatures may be variously modified without departing from the underlyingprinciples, it is not intended to limit the inventlon to such featuresexcept so far as set forth in the appended claims.

ll hat is claimed is:

1. in a cooling tower, a cooling deck oomprising a series of spacedapart horizontalparallel troughs, those in one deck arranged crosswisewith respect to the deck above or below, the troughs in each deckbeingsupported upon frame beams'at their ends and held down by overlying barsat their ends, hold-down bolts engaging each bar near each end andextending down between two troughs to a point of attachment to a framebeam and separating elements engaging each bar and located between eachtwo troughs.

In testimony whereof, l have afiixed my EDWIN BURHORN.

